


The Sixth Night

by RationalCashew



Series: Christmas Eve and Other Stories [6]
Category: The X-Files
Genre: Christmas, Established Relationship, F/M, Fluff, MSR
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-30
Updated: 2019-12-30
Packaged: 2021-02-27 06:14:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,628
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22032361
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RationalCashew/pseuds/RationalCashew
Summary: Christmas Eve.
Relationships: Fox Mulder/Dana Scully
Series: Christmas Eve and Other Stories [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1566076
Comments: 12
Kudos: 54





	The Sixth Night

**Author's Note:**

> For those of you that have demanded it, I told you it was coming! :P

Mulder didn’t want to leave when he woke a little after four o’clock that morning with Scully lying half-on top of him on her couch. The static on the TV signaled that the tape had rewound itself in the VCR and the VCR had shut itself off. He hadn’t even finished the movie and, as tired as she’d seemed, he was pretty positive that Scully hadn’t watched the entire thing, either.

But, he’d managed to shift out from under her without waking her—something he’d attributed to Christmas magic—and quietly left her apartment. One day, he’d stay the entire night; it’d be welcomed by both of them. Last night, unfortunately, wasn't the night. No matter how badly Mulder had wished it was.

On the drive back to his apartment, Mulder considered the previous night. For as much of a battle as it had been, he’d enjoyed decorating with Scully. He’d caught her watching him a few times, too. Each time, it sent a jolt through him. She’d even let him hang a UFO ornament on the tree. Although, he was pretty positive that when he came back over, he’d find it moved from the front of the tree to the back. It was the only out-of-place ornament on the meticulous, sophisticated Scully tree. There was a metaphor somewhere in that notion.

He smirked at the memory of when he’d given it to her. Or, rather, brought it over and hung it on her tree while she was in the other room, wondering how long it would take her to notice. It was part of their dance. She’d noticed immediately, crossed her arms, and arched her eyebrow. He’d laughed. She only shook her head; although, he caught the grin on her face.

That was two years ago. If Mulder was being honest with himself, he was surprised when he saw it among the other ornaments in the tub.

But, it had made him smile that she didn’t toss it the second he’d left the night he gave it to her.

* * *

Scully finished wrapping her Christmas presents around lunch time and placed them under the tree. Mulder’s gift was front and center just like that stupid UFO ornament she fought the urge to move to the back of the tree. Every time she saw it. But, it made her smile every time she saw it.

It was classically him. The alien theme aside, it was different than all the other ornaments; obnoxious even. For reasons she’d never be able to explain, Scully loved it nonetheless; it had become her favorite. Go figure.

Scully checked the clock. It was barely two. She still had several hours before Mulder was due to come over and she was resisting the urge to call him.

It was an odd notion, really. In the past, she’d have just picked up the phone but, now, Scully found herself feeling somewhat self-conscious; the aspect of being in a relationship with him—or, whatever this was—had changed things. Whether she liked it or not.

And, it wasn’t as if they’d planned it. It just happened one day. An undefinable shift had occurred and, for as long as they’d denied it, upon its acknowledgement, Scully had found herself becoming anxious—shy even. Something entirely out of character for her. And, she had no idea why.

She’d noticed it a little in Mulder, too. While he still made quips and flirted shamelessly, those things felt different; shy but pointed. Like an inside joke, almost.

Scully hadn’t really known what to expect when they’d accepted the change, but this sure as hell wasn’t it. She hated her teenaged years in regards to dating; she sure as hell didn’t expect to feel them all over again as an adult.

* * *

Mulder bounced the basketball against the floor, only partially caring that it might disturb the people living below him. He’d already gone running. He’d watched some TV. He’d looked over a file. Then, a second file. Then, a third.

What he really wanted to do, though, was see Scully. Mulder wondered if she’d be mad if he just showed up now. He didn’t want to bother her and, if she had things to do, he’d be happy to help or just watch—if she’d rather.

He should call her.

Would that be too clingy? It’s not like he didn’t call her for more random of things, he rationalized.

Before, he could’ve gotten away with just about anything. So, why was it so damn hard now? Why did he get self-conscious?

Mulder grinned to himself. At least, he could kiss her now. He could hold her without having to have some excuse. And, God, did he want to kiss her right now.

He needed a distraction.

Mulder supposed he could call the Gunmen and see if they still wanted to play poker. He had a few hours kill before he got to see Scully. They’d understand when he had to kick them out so he could go to her. He also knew that he’d probably lose some money. Not because the Gunmen were particularly good at poker of any kind. In fact, for men so smart, they were terrible at it. Mulder would just be distracted by thoughts of his beloved and would, literally, pay for that.

With a sigh, he walked to the gurgling fish tank and dropped in some flakes.

“What do you guys think?” He asked them. The fish ignored him, swimming to the top of the water and snatching the food floating in wait for them. “You’re no help.”

Mulder had barely flopped on the couch when his phone rang.

“Mulder,” he answered.

“Mulder, it’s me.” Scully’s voice made his stomach do that flippy thing.

“Scully, hey,” he replied awkwardly.

She was silent for a moment before asking, “Is…is this a bad time?”

“No,” he replied too quickly. “I, um, I just fed my fish.”

Lame.

“Oh. Um… Well, I’m actually calling because, if you’re not busy, I thought you might want to come over early.”

She sounded… _N_ _ervous_? Since when did Special Agent Dana Scully, MD get nervous? Specifically, when talking to him, of all people. It made him smile.

“Sure,” he replied, trying to keep the delight to a minimum. “I just need to hop in the shower first and then I can head that way. Have you eaten? I’ll grab lunch.”

Mulder realized he was rambling and squeezed his eyes tightly in a form of silent admonishment.

“Sounds good,” Scully replied. He could hear her grin and his stomach did the flippy thing again.

What in the hell had this woman done to him?

“Good,” he said. Good? Really? “Um, give me like an hour or so?”

“I’ll see you then,” she replied.

“It’s a date,” Mulder said, rushed to make sure she heard him before hanging up on him again.

“It’s a date,” she repeated and he smiled.

“See you in an hour.”

“Okay.”

He hesitated to see if she’d hang up first or if he should. Scully did.

Mulder rose from his spot on the couch and faced his fish. “It’s a date,” he told them before heading down the hallway to take a shower.

* * *

A date.

That’s what he’d said. _It’s a date_.

And, she’d agreed.

They were officially having their first date. At her apartment. To do…what?

Scully supposed they could start watching Christmas movies early but then what would they do later? She didn’t really want to end the _date_ prematurely—especially when OCD, or whatever her compulsive nature was, insisted that the movies be watched in the evening with the fire going and homemade hot chocolate being consumed.

It was supposed to snow again tonight.

Which, made it the perfect evening to watch _White Christmas_.

She supposed they could play a game. She always enjoyed playing Scrabble with him.

 _Yeah, Dana_ , she admonished herself, _Scrabble_.

Scully took a quick shower and changed, pondering through it all, how they might pass the time until she felt comfortable starting _Charlie Brown_. It wasn’t like she didn’t have other movies but she didn’t want him to get bored, either.

And, she certainly wasn’t ready to sleep with him.

Well, she _was_ , but it was too soon.

She heard a knock on the door and barely made it into the living room in time to see Mulder entering her apartment, lunch in hand.

“Hey,” he greeted as she walked toward him.

“Hey,” she replied, equally as shy and silently reminding herself that she was fucking adult.

Mulder pressed a kiss to her cheek and said, “I come bearing food.”

She chuckled at that.

“So, what’s on the agenda?” He asked. Scully had known he would. She mentally kicked herself for not having come up with something.

“I’m not sure,” she replied with a wince, to which Mulder cocked his head questioningly. “What? I can’t want to spend time with you without having a reason?” She challenged, crossing her arms with mock offense.

He beamed at that. “I never...I never said that,” he replied, walking toward her with a smile on his face.

Scully was taken by surprise when Mulder pressed he softest of kisses to her lips. In retrospect, she should’ve seen it coming from the look on his face. In her own defense, it was still new to be kissing Mulder and it be perfectly okay.

“So, what do you think, Scully?” She was about to tell him that she thought he should kiss her again but, he continued with, “Scrabble?”

She laughed at that. Perfectly ironic and he had no idea.

“Sure.”

* * *

“Mulder, no!” Scully said, causing him to laugh. “That is not a word. It’s a compilation of letters.”

“Which, in the English language, makes something a word,” he countered.

“It’s slang at best. Which is against the rules.”

“You just don’t want to give me a triple word score.” Scully frowned that cute little frown and he took the tiles off the board. “Fine.” He replaced them with the word _dog_ and she bit back a laugh. “You know,” he said, thoughtfully, “we could start this over and make it holiday themed.”

“You just don’t want to lose,” she retorted with a giggle.

It was partially true.

“Oh, I don’t think there’s any coming back for me,” Mulder admitted. Scully met his gaze. “What do you say?”

“To holiday Scrabble?”

“Why not?”

She appeared to be thinking it over before giving him a daring look and agreeing. He couldn’t help but smile. He was going to smoke her.

Quite awhile later, they were still playing. Mulder hadn’t anticipated it being this difficult to use only words that centered around the holiday.

 _Whimsical_ bought him a double word score.

 _Tradition_ , played off of an I in his word, bought her a triple.

A perfect parallel to them, he thought. Using the O off of _tradition_ , he placed his letters.

“No,” she said firmly. “UFO is not Christmas themed.”

“Oh, really?” He challenged and pointed to her Christmas tree. When Mulder had arrived, he’d been giddy to find that she’d left it front and center; although, he hadn’t drawn attention to it. She’d move it on principle if he had.

Scully sighed and nodded, giving him the few points for ‘UFO’. Mulder was proud of himself for that one. He didn’t bother to mention that he could’ve played _tree_ off of the T.

When they finished holiday Scrabble, Scully won and Mulder made a mental note to find a game he could beat her at. Monopoly, maybe?

Before Mulder knew it, he was standing in the kitchen cooking dinner with his girlfriend.

That’s what she was, right?

“Um…” Scully said, an awkward tone to her voice. “Do you want me to be?”

The shyness and uncertainly in her voice was enough to let him know that he thought it out loud.

“Do you want to be?” He countered in the same tone, his neck growing hot.

“I asked you,” she replied.

“I sort of assumed you were,” he confessed quietly. “I guess, I should’ve asked you or we should’ve had some kind of conversation about—.”

Her lips on his cut off any oxygen to his brain. It wasn’t a deep, passionate kiss but, rather a gentle one. One that, both, told him to shut up and made him want to get down on one knee. One that said she felt the same, but was waiting for him to make a move.

Idiot.

He should’ve made the proverbial move a long time ago.

Fucking. Idiot.

“I’ll take that as a yes?” He said when he realized her lips were no longer pressed to his and his brain was finally able to form words. She only grinned in response before putting their meal in the oven. “You know,” he said, emboldened after that, as he rested his hands on her waist. Hers, in turn, wrapped around his abdomen. “It’s going to be really hard to introduce you as my partner now that I know you’re my girlfriend.”

Scully exhaled a heavy breath and Mulder found himself wondering if she was regretting her agreement. Less than five minutes of officially being together before getting dumped was certainly a new record for him.

“That’s something we’ll need to talk about,” she said. He studied her. “Our working relationship versus our personal one.” He only nodded, not knowing how else to respond, as she continued, “At work, we _have_ to stay professional; we can’t flaunt this.”

“Flaunt it?” He laughed. “Scully, I think everyone knew before we did.”

She sighed. “That’s not what I mean.”

“Hey,” he said gently, pulling her back to him when she tried to pull away. “I hear you. I do. Okay? From eight fifteen in the morning to five o’clock in the evening, we’re FBI partners. But, the second the clock strikes five-oh-one…”

“Mulder,” she said, amusement present in her voice.

“Should I book one room or two on out of town cases?” He half-joked and she leveled him with a single look. “Two rooms it is.”

She sighed again. “I just… Even if no one else would know, I would.”

There was almost a helplessness to Scully’s tone that damn near broke his heart.

“I know,” Mulder replied softly. He tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear and pressed a kiss to her forehead. “We’ll take it slow and I will keep a respectable distance from you at work.”

She chuffed a laugh. “No, you won’t.” Mulder gaped in response. “Mulder, not once in our partnership have you kept a ‘respectable distance’ from me.”

He couldn’t help but to laugh at that.

“What can I say, you have some kind of tractor beam pull over me.”

“So, it’s my fault?”

“I can’t win here, can I?”

She pressed another kiss to his lips, grinning as she did so. “No.”

”Then, yes, it is absolutely your fault,” he affirmed and kissed her again. This time, her arms went around his neck. 

* * *

They’d successfully made it through _A Charlie Brown Christmas_ , cuddled together, and were well into the first third of _White Christmas_ when it hit him.

He was dating Scully.

Scully was his girlfriend.

He was Scully’s boyfriend.

He got to go to work with her and come home to her afterward. Well, sort of, on the last part. If he had his way, though, they wouldn’t be spending much time apart.

“Hey, Scully,” he said quietly.

“Hmm?” She asked without diverting her gaze from the TV nor so much as shifting against him.

“You’re my girlfriend.” Mulder couldn’t keep the smile off his face.

“That’s gonna be your thing for awhile, isn’t it?”

His grin widened, but he said nothing. After what felt like an eternity but, in all reality, was probably a few seconds, she looked up at him with a humor-filled twinkle in her eye. Mulder couldn’t stop himself from kissing her. He could do that now whenever he wanted. Because she was officially his girlfriend.

He returned his gaze to the TV in time for Rosemary Clooney and Vera-Ellen to sing about being sisters. Scully chuckled against him.

“Missy and I used to sing this,” she said, leaving him dumbfounded. “Not very well, mind you. Neither of us could sing. But, when we were kids, we used to go back to our room after watching the movie and reenact this scene. Mom would always tell us to knock it off and go to sleep.”

Mulder smiled at that. He’d have given anything to go back and see a Scully as a young girl singing that song with her sister.

“I can imagine your mom enjoyed it, though.”

Scully snorted. “It used to drive her crazy, actually. Especially, with Bill and Charlie arguing about whether or not Santa would come with only one of them sleeping.”

“Let me guess, Bill wanted to stay up all night?” He joked. She laughed.

“Billy was convinced that Charlie would ruin it for him by staying awake.”

Mulder chuckled.

“Sam used to sneak into my room after our parents went to bed. We tried to catch him in the act.”

Scully giggled before looking up at him. “Why doesn’t that surprise me?”

“You’re telling me that you never wanted to catch Santa Claus leaving presents under the tree?”

“I can’t say that I did.” Scully grinned and added, “I was a little more interested in the reindeer on the roof.”

It was Mulder’s turn to chuckle. “And, _that_ doesn’t surprise me.”

When the movie was over, Scully got up to rewind it and Mulder fought the urge to pull her back to him. He wasn’t ready to go home.

She disappeared to her bedroom, announcing that she was going to change but would be right back, and Mulder took the opportunity to run to his coat pocket and grab the small gift he’d purchased for her weeks ago.

He’d barely made it back to the couch and shoved the present under it before she got back into the living room. He watched as she paused to look out the window by the tree.

Mulder made his way to her, wrapping his arms around her and holding her tightly to him.

The snow was really coming down.

Finally, she turned around and he lifted his hand above her head with a grin on his face. Scully glanced up at the mistletoe he held as smirked as he leaned in.

When they broke, she looked at him with a clearly amused expression on her face.

“You know, if you want to kiss me, you don’t need that.”

Mulder shrugged. “I was trying to keep it festive,” he said holding up the mistletoe and chuckling.

“Well, um, I hate to break it to you,” she said taking it from him and biting her lip to, he assumed, keep from laughing. “This is holly.”

Mulder studied it. How the hell did he miss that?

Scully laughed and pulled him into another brief kiss before announcing that she got him something and reaching under the tree for it.

“What a coincidence,” he replied, “I got you something, too.”

They sat on the couch and exchanged gifts. Scully got him an incredibly nice tie—far nicer than anything he’d have bought for himself—which rested underneath two Knicks tickets.

He beamed when he gestured for her to open hers. She gasped when she saw it. The reaction was far better than he could’ve hoped. He knew she’d love it, but the teary look in her eyes was enough to let him know that he rocked it.

“Mulder,” she said quietly, running her hand over the worn leather cover.

“It’s not quite a first edition, but the owner of the bookstore emphasized that it was rare. He made a point to tell me that I could tell because it says ‘The Whale’ on the cover,” he rambled. She cupped his cheek and gave him a sweet kiss.

“Thank you,” she said before wiping at her eyes.

“You like it?”

“I love it.”

He smiled. “Good. I’m glad.”

“How did you even find this?” She asked in a breathy tone.

“Luck, actually,” he said, lying through this teeth because he didn’t want to admit that he had the Gunmen track one down because she’d get mad at him for spending the kind of money it cost to get one’s hand on a first edition—even though he’d have happily paid double for one.

She huffed. “I’d say so.” Scully met his gaze again. “Thank you.”

“I’m glad you like it,” he replied, leaning in to kiss her again.

* * *

They were watching _Meet Me In St. Louis_. Mulder had never heard of it and not a year passed where Scully didn’t watch it.

During the Halloween scene, he commented that it wasn’t really a Christmas movie. She’d chuckled and told him that he was right, technically speaking, but that he’d see why it qualified later.

At some point, they stretched out across the couch with Scully lying half on top of him and Mulder drawing lazy circles against the small of her back as he held her. She was dozing when the scene came. Judy Garland consoling Margaret O’Brien about the Smiths’ impending move to New York as she ironically sang “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” before sending the child into a meltdown.

“Did you know this song was written specifically for this scene?” She asked, sleepily, against his chest.

“Huh,” he replied, sounding impressed as he pulled a blanket over them. “So, this scene makes it a Christmas movie?” There was a hint of amusement in his voice. “It’s kind of dark.”

“Shut up, Mulder,” she retorted and nestled impossibly closer to him.

**Author's Note:**

> Random tidbit: “Meet Me In St. Louis” is my all-time favorite movie.
> 
> Random facts: “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” WAS written for “Meet Me in St. Louis.” Also, the song “White Christmas” (on which the movie is based) originally came from “Holiday Inn” starring Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire. 
> 
> Also, I didn’t have Mulder give Scully a first edition of “Moby Dick” because, dude, a first edition runs at like $60,000 USD (no joke; I looked it up). She’d have murdered him for spending that kind of money. Even if he is loaded from his dad being a sketchball (I’m on the Mulder inherited blood money train).


End file.
